As an author of nine published books, I can say I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I believe everyone has a book inside of them, but only some will actually start writing a book. Fewer still will complete a book, and then the elites get picked up by a publisher. Taking on such a task boosts one's confidence, and a book often lends credibility within your field. A side bonus is you know you've influenced, encouraged and hopefully changed reader's lives for the better!
Attorney, Author, Podcaster, Social Justice Advocate at Mark M. Bello
Answered 3 years ago
When I decided (at age 66) to retire from the practice of law, the idea of riding off into the sunset and spending the rest of my life lounging and golfing did not exactly appeal to me. In my 30s, I promised myself I would, one day, write a book about my most interesting case, but life, a family, and a busy practice got in the way. In retirement, with time on my hands, I sat down and finally wrote that novel and the experience inspired a whole new career. At age 70, I am about to release my 11th and 12th books and air my 25th "Justice Counts" podcast. I am having the time of my life—writing has sharpened my mind and helped me to stay focused in my golden years. While it may not be financially rewarding (yet), I highly recommend a thought-provoking, post-retirement career.
I've always been a writer, but I've never had the opportunity to write as much as I have since I started writing my book. When you're trying to write a book, you have to be disciplined and make time for it, whether that's in the morning or at night. It makes me feel more like an adult and a professional because I'm taking responsibility for my own career development by making sure that I'm constantly growing as an author. I've also been able to grow as a person because of this project: it's made me more focused on what matters and forced me to prioritize my time so that I can get everything done.
Authoring a book has helped me grow both personally and professionally beyond what I had predicted. Through the lengthy process of researching, plotting, writing, and finally publishing, my patience and discipline have developed immensely. On a professional level, I have seen my name become familiar in the literary field since the release of my book, leading to many new opportunities including speaking engagements and featured articles. Most rewarding is the knowledge I am able to disseminate on both a national and local level, creating an impact that is larger than just my individual career path. And while none of this would have been possible without authoring my book, it was through deepening connections with those who found inspiration in its pages that I was able to reach a whole new level of understanding about myself as an artist.
Being an author allowed me to free my brain to think new thoughts and have different ideas. I am not bound by trying to remember what I was thinking about or what my concepts and ideas were because I have written them down and they will always be there. So I am free to think of new ideas. More importantly it allows me to share my thoughts and ideas with other people. The credibility it gives me in multiple arenas has been phenomenal and that allows me to expand my audience to accomplish my goal of impacting people and changing their perspective and lives for the better.
I started out as a journalist and wrote three books in my career. None of them made any money! (despite one reaching the best-seller list of a UK main bookshop chain. But what my books did do was open doors to other opportunities like talks, articles, radio slots because it qualifies expertise. For example my first book was a dating memoir, so suddenly I was able to pitch myself as a 'dating expert' to the media. I often commented on any topical story to do with celebrity affairs or new research. From that, I qualified my TV and radio credentials so soon I was commenting on more serious topics and doing general paper reviews. From that I got regular comment opportunities. And now, I run a business helping people get into the media, based on my own experiences. So one book opened lots of doors but each enabled me to pivot into a slightly new area. My business now is PR and nothing to do with dating! But the book was a stepping stone!
When I released a romantic Ebook before it made a lot of women go onto my site which sent a lot of traffic to my Wordpress site which made me over £3000 in Adsense sales over a month so give me extra money to invest into other businesses later on which proved good help for future businesses I worked on . https://www.buyseoservices.ooo/